Gallup Poll Indicates Marijuana Support Growth

New Poll reports 66% of US citizens support legalization.

So have you heard?? The majority of US citizens believe cannabis should be legalized and prohibition should end. Two-thirds of Americans now support legalizing marijuana, this is the highest percentage ever! No, we are not joking. Gallup, the survey behemoth, has polled this topic since they first polled Americans on legal marijuana in 1969. Back in 1969, just 12 percent said they were in favor. As recently as 2005, barely a third of Americans were on board.

So what is the big news?

The new survey released yesterday shows that U.S. adults back ending cannabis prohibition by a supermajority margin of 66 percent to 32 percent. That’s more than a two-to-one ratio. It is the third year in a row that the firm, which has been polling about marijuana for 49 years, has found a record-breaking increase in support. Last year, the survey identified legalization’s favorability at 64 percent. In addition to the two-point bump in support since then, opposition also decreased two percentage points from 2017’s level of 34 percent.

Support for legalization has spiked considerably in several key demographics over the past year. For example, there has been a nine-point increase among older Americans, with 59 percent of those aged 55 and over now saying it is time to end marijuana’s criminalization.

The poll also found that regional differences in attitudes about cannabis are starting to dissipate. People on the East Coast are now slightly more likely to back legal marijuana than those out West , with all areas of the country favoring the policy change at roughly the same rate—67 percent in the East and 65 percent in the each of the Midwest, South and West. Let us not forget, support is huge among younger Americans, with 78 percent of those aged 18 to 34 calling for cannabis to be legal.

The survey was conducted between October 1 and 10, prior to Canada’s cannabis legalization law going into effect last week. Let us see what November brings, maybe Connecticut Legislators will listen to their constituency this time around. The time is now! Legalization is morally just, not because it will end the malicious lies for once and for all. More importantly it will push us as a society to correct all the harm it cost people who were disenfranchised due to prohibition.

Bottom Line

As efforts to legalize marijuana at the state level continue to yield successes, public opinion, too, has shifted toward greater support. The Department of Justice under the current Republican administration has been perceived as hostile to state-level legalization. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions could find himself out of step with his own party if the current trends continue. Rank-and-file Republicans’ views on the issue have evolved just as Democrats’ and independents’ have, though Republicans remain least likely to support legalizing pot.

It is time politicians stop treating cannabis legalization as a partisan issue, simply because it is not!